Ruger 50th Anniversary Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum
Revolver

Fifty years after its introduction, Ruger’s
Super Blackhawk can certainly be called an overwhelming
success. It was a hit right from the beginning in 1959, when
Ruger first started producing what was to become the flagship of
their single action revolver line. Finished in a superior high
polish compared to the standard Blackhawk
guns, wearing a long grip frame with a distinctive dragoon-style
trigger guard, there was nothing quite like the Super at the
time. For more details on the Super Blackhawk, I will refer you
to my previous article written
back in 2001, and more importantly to Bill
Hamm’s in-depth look at the history of the Super Blackhawk.

For this piece, we will concentrate upon the
Super Blackhawk that Ruger is now building to commemorate the 50th
Anniversary of that legendary sixgun. The old Supers were built
with a high polish blued finish that shone like a mirror, and
Ruger has thankfully given a high polish finish to the
anniversary gun as well. The one that I received here is very
well-fitted, better than any gun that I have seen from Ruger in
quite a while. The grip frame is perfectly fitted to the
cylinder frame, and the highly-figured wood grips fit very well
to the grip frame. The gold lines around the cylinder and the
gold lettering atop the barrel are very tastefully done. The
ejector rod housing is polished blue steel, and well-fitted to
the barrel and frame. The barrel/cylinder gap is an even four
one-thousandths (.004) of an inch. The wide hammer spur and wide
trigger add a touch of class. This anniversary gun is classic
Super Blackhawk in every way.

The trigger pull on the test gun released at a
crisp three pounds, seven ounces, and the sixgun weighed in at
just a hair over three pounds. The gun wears a seven and
one-half inch barrel. The chamber throats all measured just
barely over .430 inch, just enough to press in a .430 inch
diameter bullet. Perfect. Shooting the Anniversary Super was a
real pleasure. I had no insert for my Ransom
Rest to fit the Super, and had to do the accuracy
testing the old fashioned way, holding it in my own two hands
rested over a steady support. Accuracy most likely suffered as a
result, but the Super Blackhawk still exhibited match-grade
accuracy, placing five shots into less than one and one-half
inches repeatedly at twenty-five yards, and the one and
three-eighths inch group shown is representative of the groups
fired with this sixgun. It would put two or three into the same
hole, but I would always pull one or more out of the group. I
shot mostly my own handloads using Mt.
Baldy Keith bullets over a charge of Hodgdon
Titegroup. I wasn’t pushing for high velocities or trying to
see which load gave the best accuracy. The shooting of the
Anniversary Super was much more relaxed, and I just spent the
time nostalgically enjoying the milestone in this great
revolver’s history. My first single action revolver was a
Ruger Super Blackhawk, and shooting this anniversary gun brought
back many fond memories. The only factory ammunition that I
fired in the Super was the superlative Grizzly Cartridge
ammo using the Belt
Mountain Punch bullet. This bullet will penetrate better
than any that I have ever tested, but I mostly chose it to use
here because the brass bullets just looked so good with the gold
trim on the Super. Seems like a stupid reason to shoot up
expensive ammunition, but it felt right at the time.

There is no need to ramble on about the Super.
We have covered that here before. The pictures tell everything
that needs to be told about this commemorative of one of the
world’s best single action sixguns.